From the course: Photoshop One-on-One: Advanced

How vector-based shape layers work - Photoshop Tutorial

From the course: Photoshop One-on-One: Advanced

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How vector-based shape layers work

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- [Illustrator] Now, this movie may have inauspicious beginning, what with this extremely small image file. But in just a few minutes, it's going to turn into this. Thanks to the power of Vector-based Shape Layers here inside Photoshop. Now, when you first opened this document, you may get this alert message, that's asking you if you want to update these texts layers right here, so that they can be scaled and modified, is what it means. This bit about vector-based output, applies exclusively to postscript printers, which are few and far between. But in any event, if you see this message, go ahead and click the Update button. You'll also need the font Minion Pro, by the way, which you can activate from Adobe Fonts. Now, notice over here in the layers panel, that we have a total of five layers. We've got a static pixel-based layer here at the bottom, along with two texts layers, and two shape layers. The text layers are identified by these capital letter Ts, the shape layers are identified by these little squares, with tiny anchor points in the bottom right corner of their thumbnails. And incidentally, the shape layers are these greenish pointing fingers, if you can make those out, as well as this purple crown. And incidentally, every shape layer gets no more than one fill, even if it's a gradient or pattern fill, and one stroke. And you create shape layers using these guys right here, starting with the rectangle tool and ending with the custom shape tool. All right. I want you to know this, if I click and hold on this dock item down here in the bottom left corner of the screen, that the size of this file is 170 pixels wide by 110 pixels tall. 170 times 110 equals a total of 18,700 pixels, which would be a lot if we were talking about, say screwdrivers. But where pixels are concerned, that's not very many at all. But it shouldn't really matter, if we're working with Vector-based Objects. Now, if you're familiar with the traditional vector drawing programs such as Adobe Illustrator, then you know that you can zoom in on your path outlines and get greater clarity. This is not the case inside Photoshop. And so notice, as I zoom in, I just get bigger and bigger pixels, until I eventually see the pixel grid. And that's because Photoshop is incapable of doing anything, but growing pixels beyond the a 100%. It doesn't matter whether the layers are pixel-based image layers, texts layers, or shape layers, you still see pixels on screen. However, you can scale this artwork if you like, by first going back out to a 100%, which I'm doing by pressing CTRL + 1 here on the PC, or CMD + 1 on the Mac. And then, I'll go up to the image menu, and choose the Image Size command. Now, if you're working along with me, you want to make sure that the resample check box is turned on, and that your width and height values are locked into alignment with each other. All right. Just for the sake of demonstration, I'm going to make my dialogue box very large, so it pretty much takes up the entire screen. And then, I'm going to switch this option, whether it reads pixels or inches, or what have you, 2%. And now, I'm going to crank up either the width or height value to 500% like so. And notice that we're seeing this very gummy looking image. And that's a function of the fact that the interpolation method is set to automatic. But because we're working with vector-based texts and shape layers, it really doesn't matter what we set the interpolation to. For example, I could go with nearest neighbor, at which point we're just going to blow up the pixels like so. At least, that's the way things are previewed inside the Image Size dialog box. But notice, if I were to click Okay to accept that change, that we have some pristine looking texts and shape layers. The only thing that's suffering, is the static pixel layer in the background. And as you can see here, we just have big choppy pixels. And the great thing about working with Vector-based Layers, is that you can scale them as many times as you want. So, I could return to the Image menu, and once again, choose the Image Size command, which can now see the image of the way it actually is. But if I were to crank the width or height value, once again, up to 500%, then as you can see here, we end up with big choppy pixels. Again, that's according to the preview inside the dialog box. But if I were to click Okay, you can see that everything scales beautifully. I'll go ahead and zoom out to 100%, and I'll scroll up a little bit, so that you can see, even though that static pixel based layer in the background, the droplets layer, that is to say, it looks absolutely horrible. The vector-based text and shape layers look absolutely smooth. Things get even better if we're working with a Smart Object. And so, notice that the bottom of this image, instead of static pixels, we have a high resolution image, set inside of a Smart Object, as indicated by this little page icon in the bottom right corner of the thumbnail. And so, in the case of this image, if I were to go to the Image menu, and choose the Image Size command, which is so very useful that it has a keyboard shortcut, of CTRL + ALT + I or CMD + Option + I on the Mac. And now, I'll just go ahead and set the width value to 500 times 5 this time around, which is 2500%. And that way, we're blowing up the image in one operation. Notice that things look absolutely tragic, where the image size previews concern. But once again, if I were to click Okay, then I am not only going to get these super smooth vectors where the text and shape layers are concerned, but thanks to the fact that I'm working with a high resolution Smart Object, I'm seeing a great looking photographic image as well. And so, I'll go ahead and press CTRL + 0, CMD + 0 on a Mac in order to center my zoom. And we have a very nice looking document. And I want you to see, if I click and hold on that dock item again, that the width is now 4,250 pixels, and the height is now 2,750 pixels. Which means that we have a total of 11,687,500 pixels, or 625 more pixels than we had to begin with. Which by the way, amounts to an image that measures 14 inches wide by 9 inches tall, at 300 pixels per inch. Or if you prefer, 36 by 23 centimeters. And that my friends, is how Vector-based Objects including type N shape layers, work here inside Photoshop.

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